Electrical systems of vehicles originally consisted of a battery, a starter, lighting, and only a few other accessory features. However, vehicles have become increasingly complex over time, especially with regard to the in-vehicle electrical systems. Today, almost every component of a vehicle also includes an electronic control unit (ECU), which is part of the in-vehicle electrical system. Further, all of these components having an ECU also must communicate with one another.
As the complexity of the in-vehicle electrical systems has increased, the potential sources and numbers of errors due to the in-vehicle electrical systems have also increased. Often, these errors require major vehicle recalls in order to fix them. Even in cases in which the complex in-vehicle electrical systems operate error-free, these systems may still require frequent updates in order to maintain compliance and/or compatibility with changing modern standards for the in-vehicle electrical systems.
These updates may be extremely important for aspects of the in-vehicle electrical systems relating to infotainment, for example. In this regard, it may be critical to maintain an updated road map database so that the system has not only a database of current road maps but also a list of current points-of-interest (POI), for example. In addition, it may also be important to maintain an updated multimedia database so that the system has a database of current albums and artists, for example. The databases for these types of infotainment systems may become outdated fairly quickly. For example, databases of road maps, current POI, current albums, and current artists may substantially change between the time of initially loading these databases and the time of actual delivery of the vehicle to a customer. Thus, it may be important to frequently update these and other types of vehicle electrical systems that may become outdated fairly quickly or otherwise require frequent updates.
In addition, consumer electronics media interfaces may also need to be updated frequently in order to stay up-to-date with the latest protocols and standards, for example. In this regard, the consumer electronics device industry generally changes at a relatively fast pace compared to the automotive industry. Thus, similar to databases of current multimedia information, the consumer electronics media interfaces may also become outdated fairly quickly, thereby requiring frequent updates.
However, despite this need for updating and maintaining current information in in-vehicle electrical systems, including, for example, infotainment systems, consumer electronics media interfaces, and many other systems, there is presently no convenient method to interface with all the components of in-vehicle electrical systems. Further, this problem applies not only to updating the information in the in-vehicle electrical systems but also to retrieving the information presently existing in the in-vehicle electrical systems. As a result, it is nearly impossible for vehicle owners to know the current status of components of the in-vehicle electrical systems, unless they are currently using a particular component or happen to recall the most recently updated state of a particular component. Moreover, service intervals for updating components of in-vehicle electrical systems may be infrequent and untimely, and may possibly be based purely upon a vehicle owner's memory, service notations in vehicle manuals, or service stickers occasionally applied to vehicle windows. Thus, components of in-vehicle electrical systems may not receive important updates until after such updates should have been received and incorporated.
Presently, in order to update an in-vehicle electrical system, a vehicle owner may be required to bring his/her vehicle to a vehicle dealer. There, a service technician may need to connect the vehicle to an expensive testing machine in order to determine the present status of the in-vehicle electrical system. After the testing machine scans all components of the in-vehicle electrical system for their present status, the service technician may then proceed to make the necessary repairs and/or updates. This procedure may be both expensive and time-consuming, which is generally unsatisfactory to vehicle owners.
In addition, in order to update databases of current road maps and current POI, map disks or other media storage devices containing the updated information may need to be replaced. However, vehicle owners must first obtain the storage devices containing the updated information. In addition, such storage devices may not necessarily be compatible with existing interfaces in in-vehicle electrical systems. Some interfaces of the in-vehicle electrical systems may be able to be updated in the same manner as other interfaces of the vehicle ECUs. Often, however, interfaces, such as media interfaces, may need to be completely replaced due to incompatibility with current media storage devices.
Further, in order to monitor and update in-vehicle electrical systems, vehicle owners may purchase equipment to retrieve vehicle data via the on-board diagnostic (OBD) connector. However, such equipment may be highly specialized, expensive, and difficult to operate.
German Published Patent Application No. 10 2004 051 637 describes a control device that utilizes a separate, dedicated interface formed as a plug connection in a vehicle dashboard.
German Published Patent Application No. 10 2004 027 412 describes a motor vehicle key that communicates with a vehicle communication system via contactless communication systems, such as infrared and electromagnetic interfaces.
German Published Patent Application No. 10 2004 025 886 describes a motor vehicle key that communicates with a motor vehicle via a wireless interface, such as a radio link, and communicates with a computer via a USB or Firewire interface.
German Published Patent Application No. 10 2005 043 197 describes a dedicated circuit for transmitting personal data via card locations that include interfaces such as USB, Bluetooth, and infrared interfaces.
German Published Patent Application No. 101 44 002 describes an organizer, such as a portable computer, that communicates with a vehicle via an infrared interface.
German Published Patent Application No. 10 2005 038 462 describes a control center that communicates with a vehicle via a communication link using communication protocols such as GSM, Internet minutes, LAN, or WAN.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0049915 describes a remote keyless entry transmitter that connects to a dedicated docking station of a vehicle via, for example, a USB connector.